Hawaii: Making It Work in Paradise

What draws craft artists to Hawaii? You'll know when you glimpse the dramatically twining canopy of a koa tree and the jaw-dropping multi-colored cliffs of the Na Pali Coast.

The islands' natural beauty is a potent force in the lives and work of creative people. "We're drawn here. There's this wonderful creative energy here that just attracts people like a magnet," says wood artist Tiffany DeEtte Shafto, president of Hawai‘i Craftsmen and co-author of Contemporary Hawai‘i Woodworkers: The Wood, the Art, the Aloha, with Lynda McDaniel (Contemporary Publications, 2009).

The exotic surroundings inspire craft enthusiasts, as do Hawaiian cultural traditions. But many find they need to be creative not only in making art, but also in making a living. Hawaii, lush and lovely, can be expensive.

Honolulu studio space is a luxury, for example, given the high cost of real estate in the metropolis. Concrete high-rises stacked with offices and apartments-appliances and clotheslines sometimes peeking out from balconies-are as much part of the city landscape as palm trees.

Honolulu's downtown arts district centers on Nu'uanu Avenue. The district is part of the city's Chinatown, an area once known more for drug dealers and prostitutes than artists and their patrons. Sandra Pohl, of the Louis Pohl Gallery, says the district's First Friday art walk, which draws an average of 5,000 people a month, was a cooperative venture that has succeeded in bringing more foot traffic to the galleries.

"About seven years ago, a handful of galleries banded together," Pohl says. "We said, ‘We've got to do something collectively. ... If people knew there were a lot of galleries here, they'd come down.' "

Chinatown's Bethel Street Gallery, the state's largest artist-owned and -operated gallery, features glassworks by Jane Raissle and porcelain and mixed-media sculptures by Jo Rowley, among other artists.

Hawai‘i Craftsmen has its headquarters in a community arts center called The Arts at Mark's Garage. Each summer the craft artists group holds its juried Raku Ho‘olaule‘a exhibition in the facility's gallery space.

"Our event draws in the top raku artists in Hawaii," says Rose Anne Jones, Hawai‘i Craftsmen executive director. "Our top award winners this year, Kate and Will Jacobson, invented naked raku. They actually do a raku process and then paint and airbrush afterward."

A short walk from Chinatown is the Hawaii State Art Museum, located in a former YMCA that also houses the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. The museum's collection includes the works of such artisans as ceramist Russell Wee, fiber artist Pam Barton and wood sculptor Rocky Ka‘iouliokahihikolo‘Ehu Jensen.

Another notable local craft venue is the Nohea Gallery, with several Honolulu locations, including one at Waikiki. The gallery carries a large selection of koa boxes, as well as turned bowls in a variety of woods, and jewelry, glass, fiber and ceramic works.

In a city that ranks among the top five most expensive in America, a working artist has to be frugal to survive, and many make part of their living in the classroom. Steve Martin, who lives a bare-bones lifestyle in the country, teaches a wheel-throwing class at the Hawaii Potters' Guild to help make ends meet.

"Any other income I get is from selling my work," says Martin, whose sales went up when the Fishcake Gallery, a local home furnishings store, began carrying his work.

Painter, printmaker and performance artist Vince Hazen, director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts' Academy Art Center at Linekona, says he knows few local artists who earn 100 percent of their income from making art.

"It's become more challenging with the downturn in the economy," he says. "We see some of our galleries struggling, although some new ones are coming up."

Hawai‘i Craftsmen president Shafto, who lives on the Big Island (island of Hawaii), with her husband, woodcrafter Timothy Allan, says that while there are abundant opportunities for Hawaii's wood artists to showcase and sell their work, it's tough to find both artistic and financial success in Honolulu.

"It's probably easier for those of us out on the Big Island than in the big city," Shafto says.

Wood sculptor Rocky Jensen hails from Oahu, where he lived until the 1990s, when the U.S. Army commissioned him to create his largest work, a monument to fallen Hawaiian warriors at Fort DeRussy, in Waikiki. Jensen moved to the Big Island to work on the oversized project, carving five 9-foot-tall icons from ohia wood. He is currently working on a commission from Walt Disney Parks & Resorts to create several pieces for the Aulani resort in Ko Olina, expected to open on Oahu in the fall.

A native Hawaiian, Jensen is passionate about respecting the spiritual symbolism wood carried for his ancestors, particularly the belief that even carved wood embodies a living being.

"My indigenous culture has been the foundation of all my creative work," he says. "Not only the physical act of carving but the subject matter are based solely on our ancient beliefs and philosophy. Not that I regurgitate, for I am a very contemporary artist, but the process and procedure and protocol of carving itself is the foundation of all my work."

Fiber artist Liz Train works in silk and wool nuno felting, exploring natural themes. "I've always been very influenced by Hawaii and the landscape: the colors, the tropical flowers, jungles and fish," says Train, who grew up on the island of Kauai.

A visit to The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu offers a chance to view both outstanding works by Hawaiian artists and the natural environment that so often inspires them. Tucked into the slopes of Mount Tantalus, the museum is enveloped by a beautifully landscaped sculpture garden. Its genesis was an art collection owned by the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper. The collection comprises more than 3,400 works, of which about a quarter are craft works, says Jay Jensen, deputy director for collections and exhibitions.

The collection includes more than 70 works by ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu and several pieces by local wood turner Ron Kent, whose work, says Jensen (no relation to Rocky Jensen), is among the best-known and widely collected outside the state.

Mixed-media installation artist Maika‘i Tubbs was one of seven artists selected to participate in The Contemporary Museum's biennial, which runs through January 9. For that show, Tubbs continued his practice of melting plastic utensils into shapes that resemble Hawaii's woodrose vine. Given the health risks of his medium, however, Tubbs
says he's ready to put aside his heat gun.

"I've done quite a few plastic pieces, but after this installation, I'm probably going to go more the route of paper," he says. "Hopefully, I can combine paper and plastic into sort of a hybrid, so I can still use plastic but without having to melt it."

Kyle Ino creates fused glass jewelry, using art glass, dichroic glass and recycled glass (such as wine bottle tops) that he melts or fuses together in layers and wraps in wire. His small, improvised studio is located in the Makakilo community of Honolulu County.

"I'm in an enclosed garage, 430 square feet, and I'm sharing it with a washer and dryer," Ino says.

In an area so cramped for space that many apartment dwellers cram washing machines, clotheslines, detergent and more onto streetside balconies, some craft artists might actually be a little envious.

Sonya Stinson writes about travel and the arts from her home in New Orleans.